Around half of all Americans reportedly take a multivitamin or other supplement every day with the goal of maintaining or improving their health. But new research shows that multivitamins don’t really help – unless you have an underlying deficiency -- and may even do more harm than good.

Recent research is questioning the value of multivitamins and individual supplements in lowering the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease and cancer. Doctors are starting to advise patients to stop wasting money on vitamins -- and improve their diets instead.

The latest data shows:
· Multivitamins don’t help against heart disease and cancer.

· Vitamin E and beta carotene do not protect against heart disease and cancer.

The OMS, Ltd. is a nationally recognized team of physicians and medical specialists who work closely with other occupational health and safety professionals. To find out more click here or call us at (800) 359-1979.

For consumers, making healthy food choices at the grocery store may soon get a little easier.

That’s because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing several changes to the nutrition labels that appear on packaged foods and beverages. If approved, the new labels would place a bigger emphasis on total calories, added sugars and certain nutrients, such as Vitamin D and potassium.

It’s the first overhaul for nutrition labels since the FDA began requiring them more than 20 years ago.

The new labels would remove the "calories from fat" line, focusing instead on total calories found in each serving. Nutritionists now understand that the type of fat eaten means more than the calories from fat, so the breakdown of total fat vs. saturated and trans fat would remain.

The FDA is also proposing changes to serving-size requirements to more accurately reflect what people really eat or drink. For example, if you buy a 20-ounce soda, you're not likely to stop drinking at the 8-ounce mark. New rules would require that entire soda bottle to be considered one serving size.

The OMS, Ltd. is a nationally recognized team of physicians and medical specialists who work closely with other occupational health and safety professionals. To find out more click here or call us at (800) 359-1979.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to hold new monthly drug safety teleconferences to discuss drug safety issues that impact both agencies.

The conversations will focus on information exchange rather than policy development. Teleconferences will be attended by 5 or 6 EMA staff members, and the same number of FDA employees, as well as members of the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), established in Europe in 2012.

The OMS, Ltd. is a nationally recognized team of physicians and medical specialists who work closely with other occupational health and safety professionals. To find out more click here or call us at (800) 359-1979.

Younger and middle-age adults have been hit particularly hard this flu season. People ages 18 to 64 represented 61 percent of all hospitalizations from influenza -- up from the previous three seasons when this age group represented only 35 percent of all such hospitalizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. Influenza deaths followed the same pattern -- with more deaths than usual occurring in this younger age group.

A second report showed that influenza vaccination offered protection against the flu, reducing a vaccinated person’s risk of having to go to the doctor for flu illness by about 60 percent across all ages.

The currently circulating H1N1 virus emerged in 2009 to trigger a pandemic, which was notable for high rates of hospitalization and death in younger- and middle-aged people. While H1N1 viruses have continued to circulate since the pandemic, this is the first season since the pandemic they have been predominant in the US.

The OMS, Ltd. is a nationally recognized team of physicians and medical specialists who work closely with other occupational health and safety professionals. To find out more click here or call us at (800) 359-1979.

If you get headaches, it helps to know what triggers them so you can avoid them. Sometimes triggers are diet-related. Chronic headache sufferers often learn which foods and drinks are best avoided.

But if some foods are off limits, are there also foods that help? The evidence is less convincing, but there may be some potential pain-savers. These six foods probably won't make a headache disappear, but research shows that they have preventive powers:
1) Spinach: The leafy greens are rich in riboflavin, a B vitamin linked to preventing migraines.

3) Watermelon: If a headache is related to being dehydrated, water-filled foods like watermelon and cucumber will help. Watermelon also offers minerals magnesium and potassium, which are lost when you are dehydrated.

4) Potatoes: Potatoes contain potassium, a mineral that helps treat headaches linked to dehydration. Potatoes contain more than double the potassium of a banana.

5) Caffeine: As long as you don't overdo it, caffeine may help headaches. But if you become too reliant on tea or java, you risk withdrawal headaches. These are likely if you're consuming the equivalent of five cups of coffee.

6) Almonds: A small body of research examined magnesium’s role when it comes to treating migraines, without concrete findings. While it may offer some migraine prevention, there's little to suggest it would help mid-headache. Almonds contain 80 milligrams per serving of magnesium.

The OMS, Ltd. is a nationally recognized team of physicians and medical specialists who work closely with other occupational health and safety professionals. To find out more click here or call us at (800) 359-1979.

People who work shifts are more likely to have a diet that promotes chronic inflammation, says a study in the February Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). Their diet may contribute to the health risks tied to shiftwork, including increased risks of high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Researchers looked at the relationship between shiftwork and pro-inflammatory diet using data from a nationwide sample of employed adults. Based on diet questionnaires, researcher Michael Wirth of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and his colleagues calculated a "dietary inflammatory index" (DII) for each person. The greater the DII score, the more pro-inflammatory the diet.

With adjustments for other factors, shift workers had an elevated DII, compared to day workers. The difference was significant for rotating shift workers (those who worked varying shifts): average DII 1.07, compared to 0.86 for day workers.

Women had higher DII values than men. Among women, the DII was higher for evening or night shift workers compared to day workers: 1.48 versus 1.17.

Western-style diets with higher levels of calories and fats have been linked to increased inflammation, compared to Mediterranean diets high in fruits and vegetables.

The OMS, Ltd. is a nationally recognized team of physicians and medical specialists who work closely with other occupational health and safety professionals. To find out more click here or call us at (800) 359-1979.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) will bring together communities across the US to observe National Public Health Week from April 7 to 13th. The aim is to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving America’s health.

For nearly 20 years, APHA has served as organizer of NPHW. This year, the event will focus on the following daily themes:

· Be healthy from the start. From maternal health and school nutrition to emergency preparedness, public health starts at home.

The OMS, Ltd. is a nationally recognized team of physicians and medical specialists who work closely with other occupational health and safety professionals. To find out more click here or call us at (800) 359-1979.